1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remedial device for hand insufficiency, which is capable of remedying functional disorders of the arm joints, hands and fingers attendant on diseases and injuries of the central nervous system such as cerebral blood vessel injuries, external cerebral injuries, cerebral palsy and spinal injuries, on injuries to the peripheral nervous system and on injuries to the joints and muscles.
2. Description of the prior Art
When the aforementioned diseases and disorders induce functional disorders in the forearms, arm joints, hands and fingers, patients are required to receive therapy and, at the same time, take physical training for restoration of motile functions. It has been long held that restoration of the functions of the arm joints, hands and fingers from the diseases and disorders is extremely difficult. In spite of the numerous studies conducted to date in the field of medical rehabilitation, a fully satisfactory remedial device remains yet to be developed. An attempt at enabling the arm joint, hand or finger paralytically bent or contracted or incapacitated for extension to be extended by the pressure of air or the action of a spring, for example, fails to yield satisfactory results.
Under these circumstances, further improved remedial devices have been proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-54505, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-15471 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-11071. These prior art remedial devices use a main body composed of a flat palmate cloth (basal fabric), finger retainers for individually retaining the five fingers of a hand so as to facilitate insertion of paralitically bent or contracted fingers, and weblike air sacks interposed one each between the adjacent finger retainers and adapted to cause the fingers to be spread apart. Thus, the prior art remedial devices manifest an epochal effect in improving the functions of the fingers, etc. by enabling the fingers to be extended and, at the same time, spread apart efficiently. They are gaining high esteem in the field of medical therapy.
For the functional disorders of arm joints, hands and fingers due to diseases of the central nervous system such as disorders of the cerebral blood vessels, the simultaneous training and exercise of such arm joints, hand joints and fingers manifests a conspicuous effect in improving their functions. However, the simultaneous training and exercise are not always required for all the diseases and disorders under discussion.
Fingers sustaining partial injuries, for example, require the exercise of extending and expanding the fingers. For the improvement of their functions, the exercise of elongating the wrist is not only unnecessary but also rather detrimental than beneficial. For hands sustaining functional disorders due to chronic arthrorheumatism, the exercise of extending and rearward flexing of hand joints is effective and the exercise of elongating and spreading fingers is not necessary.
For the solution to the problems of this nature, however, the aforementioned prior art references only go to the length of teaching the stoppage of supply of compressed air to be effected by squeezing air conduits interconnecting the compressed air source to the individual air sacks with a pinch valve or clip. For this reason, the remedial devices disclosed in these references are incapable of providing delicate treatments befitting various internal and surgical symptoms.